Incontinence surgery failed!

About a month ago I had a procedure called anal augmentation, which involves injecting collagen into the anal canal to treat passive incontinence. unfortunately it doesn`t seem to have worked, & I`m very disappointed about this. I don`t know where I go from here, is there any self help method for stopping fecal incontinence?

Welcome to adisc at first!
Perhaps you'd also like to make an introduction if you can find the spare time to do so? We won't bite. ;)

Anyway, I'm sorry that the surgery didn't turn out well. And I certainly know how bothersome it can be ultimately.
I only wonder, how long has it been since the augmentation? As far as I know it's done via using injections of polytetrafluoroethylene, collagen or autologous fat. And this stuff can take some time until it shows an actual improvement. Usually fully after 1-2 months. If not you can also get a second one. Haven't your doctors said anything about that? You can surely ask if not.

Besides that, so what you're asking for especially, there is the so called irrigation of the lower part of the colon. It's a method of alleviating faecal incontinence and constipation by emptying the rectum. And the most simple and safe long-term treatment for defecation disturbances with greatest benefit for anyone with a bowel dysfunction. It minimises the likelihood of involuntary bowel leakage and/or constipation.
However, the "sucess rate" is only at 50%, for some it somehow just doesn't work, or has unwanted side effects, which as a result usually tend to worsen their incontinence symptoms. Usually due to malformations of the colon, so the irrigation does not work as intented.
Personally I wouldn't want to miss it. It works as intented, so 100% perfectly fine, and has so over the last decade without any problems. Which I would've had without it probably. Or at least a variety of different treatments and surgeries to get rid of that kind of incontinence.

Either way, you might to check out Peristeen, which is the most known producer for irrigation equipments (link), as also asking your doctors if this may be an alternative for you based on the symptomatology of your incontinence, if you don't want to try it blindly.

About a month ago I had a procedure called anal augmentation, which involves injecting collagen into the anal canal to treat passive incontinence. unfortunately it doesn`t seem to have worked, & I`m very disappointed about this. I don`t know where I go from here, is there any self help method for stopping fecal incontinence?

Hi HairyFairy,

Well that is the thing with medical procedures of that kind, there usually is no 100% guarantee that it will fix the problem.
Often times many surgeries for IC will reduce the problem - but chances are that the issue will not be 100% fixed (but the improvement drastic enough to warrant the risk)...
Other times it does jack-sh*t....

The one thing I hope though is that you were informed before the surgery about stuff like success rates, etc..??

Also sometimes there's additional stuff that can be done (medically speaking).

I really would suggest that you stay in touch with the surgeon / doctor to see what can be done to improve your situation.

That aside - there's so called "anal tampons" (google).
Basically it is a rubber-foam type "cone" that is "waxed" with a substance that melts with body heat.
easy to insert... and once it is inside the rectum it will quickly expand and form a blockage to protect you from having accidents.

Does not work for everyone I've heard... but it can be a good alternative.
It is recommended to wear a pad along as a fail-safe though.

Personally I have no "direct user" experience ... but this is something I had "picked" up (the info) from some IC-Support groups where I used to go for my urinary IC issues.

Irrigation with proper equipment, as mentioned in the previous post can work well...
you can combine these... irragation + anal tampons.

One thing I recommend though is to talk to a specific nurse to show you how to safely do the irrigation... it's not difficult but ...

The trouble is that I also have a small rectocyle because of a difficult birth many years ago, but although the birth was when I was 18, I didn`t develop an incontinence problem until a few years ago. The colorectal surgeon who di the augmentation didn`t think that it was big enough to warrant fixing, but I think that if he`d attended to the rectocel, I wouldn`t still be having continence problems now. If I`d known that this was going to happen to me as a result of childbirth, I would never have had kids. that`s how much I hate all this!

It's not nice to blame your kids for your problem. Then saying that you'd rather not have any kids at all is just hateful.

I can understand how the condition can affect you. I'm sorry that you're going through this. Birth is always risky. They're so many complications that birth can cause. Some people don't make it through their pregnancy.

Why don't you blame the doctor who didn't act on the problem initially. Sue him. Don't take it out on your kids. They don't deserve it.

The trouble is that I also have a small rectocyle because of a difficult birth many years ago, but although the birth was when I was 18, I didn`t develop an incontinence problem until a few years ago. The colorectal surgeon who di the augmentation didn`t think that it was big enough to warrant fixing, but I think that if he`d attended to the rectocel, I wouldn`t still be having continence problems now. If I`d known that this was going to happen to me as a result of childbirth, I would never have had kids. that`s how much I hate all this!

I can understand your frustration,

And to "MeTaLMaNN1983", I do not think that hairyfairy is actually blaming the issue on her KIDS but on CHILDBIRTH... Also I can understand her notion, that given hindsight she would not have gotten kids if she would have known how many medical issues she would face because of this.
You're not in her shoes, you're not incontinent, you're not bowel incontinent - you don't have to deal with this day after day after day... and I find it kind of condescending of you to call her hateful.
She has in no word so far said that she hates her kids or doesn't love them - but I guess if something has taking such a toll on your body.. .well. just saying: different perspective.

That aside - BLAMING & SUEING does't solve the problem either...
What maybe does, is the continued search for a solution - learning to live with the issue by learning how to handle it better.

It's not nice to blame your kids for your problem. Then saying that you'd rather not have any kids at all is just hateful.

I can understand how the condition can affect you. I'm sorry that you're going through this. Birth is always risky. They're so many complications that birth can cause. Some people don't make it through their pregnancy.

Why don't you blame the doctor who didn't act on the problem initially. Sue him. Don't take it out on your kids. They don't deserve it.

I had one child that was adopted, so I`m not taking it out on him. Incontinence has caused me so much discomfort & stress that I mean what I meant what I said
!

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I really don`t think that I deserve to have these issues just because I gave life to another human being. I feel that nature is punishing me for doing what she designed me to do, that is, as a woman, to have babies. It just doesn`t seem fair that other women can have huge families, yet not have any continence problems, yet I have just one child, & my bowels are shot!